Family History
Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger's father Mikhail Ridiger (1902–1962), born in Saint Petersburg, was a descendant of a Baltic German family. His ancestor Captain Heinrich Nicolaus (Nils) Rüdinger, the commander of a Swedish fortification in Dünamünde, Swedish Livonia, was knighted by Charles XI of Sweden in 1695. After Swedish Estonia and Swedish Livonia became part of the Russian Empire in the aftermath of the Great Northern War in the beginning of the 18th century, another forefather of Alexy II, Friedrich Wilhelm von Rüdiger (1780–1840), adopted Orthodox Christianity during the reign of Catherine II of Russia. From the marriage with Darya Fyodorovna Yerzhemskaya was born the future Patriarch's great-grandfather, Yegor (Georgi) von Rüdiger (1811–1848).
After the Russian October Revolution in 1917, Alexey Ridiger's father Mikhail became a refugee and the family settled in Estonia, first in Haapsalu where a shelter was provided by priest Ralph von zur Mühlen. Later Mikhail moved to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, where he met and married in 1926 Yelena Iosifovna Pisareva (1902–1959), who was born and later died there.
Alexey Ridiger's father graduated from the theological seminary in Tallinn in 1940 and was ordained a deacon and later a priest and served as the rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Tallinn. Later, he was a member and the chairman of the Diocesan Council in Estonia.
Patrilineal family tree
| Heinrich Nicolaus (Nils) von Rüdinger (?-1711) |
Peter von Rüdinger | Karl Magnus von Rüdinger (1753–1821) |
Friedrich (Fjodor) Wilhelm von Rüdiger (1780–1840) |
Yegor (Georgi) von Rüdiger (1811–1848) |
Aleksandr von Rüdiger (1844–1877) |
Aleksandr von Rüdiger (1870–1929) |
Mikhail von Ridiger (1902–1962) |
Alexey Ridiger (1929–2008) |
| Christine Elisabeth von Wickede (1680–1721) |
Elisabeth Wiesner | Charlotte Margarethe von Maltitz (1758 – 1786) |
Darya Fjodorovna Jerzhembska | Margarita Feodorovna Gamburger | Yevgenia Germanovna Gizetti (?-1905) |
Aglaida Yulyevna von Baltz (1870–1956) |
Jelena Iossifovna Pissareva (1902–1959) |
Read more about this topic: Alexy II Of Moscow
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